Illuminated sign construction



April 1932. m G. b. FITZHUGH 1,852,111

ILLUMINATED S IGN CONSTRUCTION lfiled May 18. 1931 Patented Apr. 5, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT] OFFICE GEORGE ID. FITZHUGH, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO CLAUDE NEON ELECTRICAL PRODUCTS CORPORATION, LTD., OF WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, A COR- PORATION OF DELAWARE ILLUMINAT'ED SIGN CONSTRUCTION Application filed May 18,

My invention relates to illuminated sign constructions, and has particular reference to a background for; signs employing tubular lamps as the source of illumination. In the art of sign construction, employing tubular lamps for outlining the sign indicia, the tubular lamps have heretofore been mounted upon a relatively dull or non-reflective background, so that the sign presents the appearance of sharply defined sign indicia as the luminous portion, while the remainder of the sign is illuminated only by such small diffusion of light which occurs from the employment of the tubular light sources.

It is an object of my invention to provide a sign having tubular lamps outlining indicia thereon with a background of reflective materialto produce the appearance of a multiplicity of sources of illumination. 7 I

Another object of my invention is to provide a background for luminous tube signs in Which a reflective background is employed, the background being formed of a finely corrugated material having a varied contour relative to the plane of the luminous tubes.

Other objects of my invention will be apparent from a study of the following specification, read in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a front elevational view of a sign and background constructed in accordance with my invention, and V Figure 2 is a sectional view taken along the line II, II of Figure 1.

Referring to the drawings, I have illustrated a sign construction comprising a base board or back board 1, upon which the sign background and indicia ought to be mounted. The sign indicia is illustrated as being formed from a plurality of luminous tubes 2, 3, 4 and 5 which may be of any suitable character, for example, the Neon gaseous discharge tube type.

Each of the tubes 2, 3, 4 and 5 maybe bent in any desired configuration to form the de sired indicia or decoration desired to be employed, each of these tubes being supported upon the back plate 1, as by means of forwardly projecting tube supports 6 secured to the tube and to the back plate in any suitable 1931. Serial No. 538,022.

ly to Figure 2, it will be observed that the reflective background 7 does not lie flat upon the backing board or platel, but is provided with a varied contour. In the embodiment of the invention shown the background plate 7 is illustrated as being formed of a plurality of flat sections 8 spaced from each other, between each 7 adjacent pair of which the background member is bent forwardly into a substantially 9, 1-0 and 11.

A pleasing result may beobtained by 10- cating the point of the V directly behindthe center point of any selected symmetrical portion of the sign motif. For example, the tube 3 is illustratedas outlining a shield shape, and in this instance the point of the V 9 is located immediately behind the center line of the shield shape.

Thus, the reflection 12 of the shield shaped tube 3 presents the appearance of a second shield shape considerably distorted from the shape of the tube 3.

Further enhancement of the appearance of the sign may be obtained by corrugated portions of the reflective background 7, as is indicated at 13, the corrugations constituting parallel lines throughout the entire area of the reflective background member 7 or the corrugations may be varied throughout the background as by providing some of the corrugations extending vertically, while other corrugations, indicated by the reference character 14, may be formed with their lines running horizontally. If desired, the flat spaces 8 between the V contours may be left uncorrugated for further enhancing the appearance of the sign.

The employment of the construction hereinbefore described produces a sign in which the luminous tubes present the sign indicia in ii i.

brightly illuminated lines, while the distorted reflection of these lines produces an appearance of a multiplicity of other luminous sources, but of considerably less luminosity than .the actual tubes from which the light comes.

While I have shown an described the preferred embodiment of my inventionfl do not desire to be'limitedltora-nyofzthe detailsshown or -described herein, except as defined in the appended claims.

I claim: I

1. In a sign construction,asupport,-a luminous tube bent into a preselected design,

means mounting said luminous tube in spaced relation to said support, ,a reflective background interposed between said tube, and said support havinga cross sectional contour including a plurality of V-shaped portions pointed-towardsaid tube. V

c ,2. vIn a.signconstruction, a luminous tube zbent into-a are-selected design, a supporting means mounting said tube, ,a reflective background (interposed between,sai'dtubeandosaid support havLingza cross sectional,contour including a plurality of Mshaped portions pointed ,toward said tube, .each \ofrsaid V- shaped portions ,be'ingvcorrugated.

,3. In a sign construction, a luminous tube bent ,into a symmetrical shape .to iorm sign ind-icia, a isupportingimeans vmounting said ,tu'bennda reflective background member interposedzbetweeni-said.supportandsaidtube, saidlbakground member having a cross-sectional contour including a plurality ofspaced l=shaped,portions, .the points of the Vs being aligned with simmer line \ofthe shape pnoducedlbysaid tube. 1

Si nedatLosiAngeles, icalifflrthis 8th .day of ay-,5l93l. I

p I IGEORLGE ID. .FLTZHUGH. 

